Controversial subject theme of Gordon, Moore visit

Judge Roy Moore visits Oskaloosa Iowa

Judge Roy Moore’s event drew nearly 250 supporters to the William Penn PAC Center on Saturday October 16th 2010.

Nearly all were there to hear him speak on his experience on being removed from the Alabama Supreme Court.

The event started off with a prayer lead by Rev. Bill Tvedt of Jubilee Family Church of Oskaloosa. Zach Shrock, chairman of the William Penn College Republican’s, was introduced and spoke some about community involvement and what they do.

Julie Tvedt lead the gathering in the singing of the National Anthem.

Afterward the Rev. Cary K. Gordon spoke to the group. Pastor Gordon is an associate pastor at Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City and President of PeaceMakers Institute. Gordon has recently gained national attention with his outspoken beliefs that pastors should not have to give up the freedom of speech on the basis that a church is non-profit. A 1954 congressional amendment prohibited churches and charities from engaging in political campaign activity. House Resolution 235 was designed to revise the IRS code to remove restrictions placed on churches and non-profit organizations in 1954 by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson. Prior to 1954, churches and non-profit organizations had no such restrictions on their freedom of speech or their right to speak out in favor or against political issues or candidates.  Pastors from the pulpit are then restrained from speaking in what they believe is their right to say who or what they support based upon their religious belief’s and share those with their congregation.

Organizations like Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, People For The American Way, and The American Civil Liberties Union continue to claim that this order must be upheld to protect “church/state separation.”

From left to right - Rev. Bill Tvedt, Julie Tvedt and Rev. Cary Gordon

Pastors and or churches that don’t follow this are either warned, fined, or in some cases they have had their tax exempt status revoked.

Rev. Gordon said “Marriage is in trouble, when marriage is in trouble the Nation’s in trouble. The last thing we need is to have a court push the institution of marriage off a cliff. How does gay marriage affect your marriage? It doesn’t have any effect at all on my marriage. It’s kind of a dumb question frankly and has a very simple answer. But it will effect the mentality of my children, and my grandchildren.”

“Here’s how it effect my kids and your grandchildren. When marriage can mean anything, marriage means nothing.”

Continuing his crusade against House Resolution 235 and it’s place over 501(c) Non-Profits. Rev. Gordon continued by telling everyone how he has started to gain such national attention.

“So I’ve had it, I’m not gonna be silent anymore. I believe in free speech. The left says separation of church and state. Their definition of separation is the church has to do what ever the government tells them.” “Separation of church and state makes that the government can regulate what the pastor can and cannot say. They say you have enough free speech, you don’t need all of it.”

“I know a lot of people think pastors should tell people how to vote. Here’s my problem with what your saying. You can think that, you have a right to believe that but you can’t force it on them. Because if I spend 40 minutes building my case on biblical law that abortion is murder. It’s absolutely unacceptable, there is no circumstance I can ever dream of where supporting abortion would be acceptable to God. Then I have a right at the end of the sermon to say Do Not Vote for Mr. Joe Abortion, because a christian has no alternative before God. And there is never a time when it’s morally acceptable to promote abortion, to support it or to encourage it with your vote.”

“Is this the definition of free speech? Does this make any sense? What if we just pass a law since it’s OK for pastors to loose their free speech, well why don’t we pass a law where you loose yours.”

“So I’m speaking out, and I’m double dog daring the IRS to come after me, because you know you can’t sue the IRS. They passed a law you can’t do that. But if they sue me first, I can sue them back. So I’m just kinda going around the state to television and radio saying nanny nanny boo boo, and trying to provoke them to come after me because I believe we need to restore free speech.”

In a recent article by the Des Moines Register, they do seem to back Rev. Gordon’s stance on this subject. You can read the full article here. But they state “In the 21st century, government should not be muzzling organizations, regardless of their tax designation.”

At this point, the IRS has refused comment on the situation.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, said the church’s campaign is a clear violation of federal tax law.

“I don’t think I have ever seen a more outrageous effort to politicize churches,” said Lynn. “This deplorable scheme seeks to turn houses of worship into dens of inequity and intolerance. I call on the IRS to move swiftly to put a stop to this outrage. As was released by American’s United for Separation of Church and State in a recent press release blasting Rev. Gordon and his church.

They send a letter to the IRS demanding that the IRS investigate over an open letter from Gordon’s church to other churches around the State of Iowa to have pastors speak out against activist judges.

“I believe this is a clear violation of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal tax law forbids 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches, from intervening in elections in support of or opposition to any candidate. I urge you to investigate this matter promptly and apply appropriate penalties under the law.” wrote Lynn from American’s United for Separation of Church and State in the letter to the IRS.

Shortly after his speech, there was an introduction film about Judge Roy Moore. It highlight his life from his youth until the current time.

Continuing with the theme set by Rev. Gordon, Judge Moore continued in a similar direction.

Judge Roy Moore speaking at William Penn University October 2010

Judge Moore spoke on his beliefs on how laws and the state of our nation concerning laws, the balance between we the people and the 3 branches of government. How the country, according to him and most of those in attendance, believe is based upon God’s laws. If Christians don’t stand for their beliefs against corrupt politicians and an activist judicial branch, he believes it will help lead to the moral collapse that is happening in America.

He spoke on his beliefs of the law. “God made laws for us as human beings that we can’t deny.” “Basically judges are denying those laws today. In fact their not just denying the laws, their denying the God that gave those laws, you saw it with your own eyes.”

Continuing on, “Most understand judges are out of control. All you have to do is look at California, where one judge overruled the will of millions of people.” “Time and time again they will have their way as long as they use the judiciary.”

Tying together today’s controversy and the venue that they were at, he used William Penn, the man, as part of his illustration for his views.

“The problem with people today, we don’t even know what tyranny is. What is tyranny? William Penn knew what tyranny was. What’s a famous statement he made. “Men shall be governed by the laws of God, or ruled by tyrants.””

“Tyranny is the taking of a right that which no man has a right to. Because that power belongs only to God. But possibly the simplest explanation of tyranny has been said, I think wrongfully attributed to Thomas Jefferson but it is attributed to him by some. “Where people fear the government there is tyranny, where government fears the people there is liberty. Today people fear our government, because it is taking things no man has a right to.”

There was some disappointment with some in the crowd that thought that Judge Roy Moore could have shared his experience’s during the trial and removal process. Some expressed that they felt it almost a church service and wasn’t exactly what they had expected. They thought it had been billed incorrectly.

For comments or questions or concerns, please feel free to email us here at Osky News. Our email is info@oskynews.org.


Posted by on Oct 17 2010. Filed under Events, News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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  3. […] can read about Judge Moore and his previous stop to Oskaloosa in October HERE. Share this Oskynews.org story Local News    Iowa Unemployment Rate at 6.1 Percent […]

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